This is one of several pages relating to the history of the automatic totalisator, its invention in 1913, the inventor George Julius and the Australian company he founded in 1917 which became a monopoly in this field (later an oligopoly). If you wish to start from the beginning then go to the index
Copyright © 1997 - 2008 Email - totehis@hotmail.com
Here we have a quick look at the latter period of the company history. In the late 1970s George Julius was deceased for
over 3 decades. I have included some extracts from an article that appeared on the front page of the March 1979 Asian
Computer Monthly magazine. By 1979 the company was owned by Smorgon Consolidated Industries. It still retained its
identity during this period despite a later name change to Smorgon Technology. It had 12 years to run before it was sold
to AWA Ltd. in 1991. AWA in turn was sold to Jupiters Ltd. in 2000. Jupiters Ltd. further sold the Tote Operations
division to TAB Limited. By July 2004 both Jupiters Ltd and TAB Limited were part of TABCorp. The remnants of ATL were reunited under TABCorp.
Despite Shatin ... THREE MORE ATL SYSTEMS IN ASIA
Three computerised betting systems worth a total of about US$4.5 million will be installed in Malaysia and Macau by ATL, the Australian totalisator systems specialist that ran into trouble last year at Hong Kong's Shatin race track.
Two separate systems will be installed at Penang and Ipoh race tracks worth a total of about US$2.8 million (M$6.1 million).
The system for Macau, the gambling oriented Portuguese territory across the Pearl River mouth from Hong Kong, will cost about US$1.7 million (P8.1 million) and is due to go live at the new trotting complex in May.
ATL is one of two Australian computer companies that can claim to be among the world leaders in their field. The other is Data Processing Customer Engineering the largest independent computer maintenance company outside the US.
Sydney-based ATL has been in the automated betting systems business a long while - in fact, it invented the business. The company has been in the news a lot in the last year and not all of it was good news. Asian Computer Monthly and Pacific Computer Weekly have twice shared exclusive reports on the company's problems with its state-of-the-art sell/pay wagering system that was originally meant for the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club's new Shatin track. (Asian Computer Monthly, July and November, 1978)
The system ATL developed for the new track will now go into the RHKJC's Happy Valley track on Hong Kong Island. The company that has taken over the Shatin job, Amtote, actually started in the automated betting system by manufacturing an ATL machine under licence.
But ATL general manager Tony Salmon claims the Shatin situation is not as black as it has been painted.
"It is not correct to say our Shatin system did not work - it didn't work on time and we could not meet the Shatin deadline," Mr Salmon said.
"That system works and, even though we had some problems with it, we now have the most advanced pay/sell wagering system in the world."
While attention has been centred on Shatin, many people have overlooked other successful ATL installations in Australia and Asia. Some of the contracts have enormous dollar value as many include operating contracts worth millions of dollars over several years.
Recent success at home for the company include:
- A system for the Combined Brisbane Racing Clubs which has gone live at the Gabba greyhounds. Equipment for the system is worth US$3.4 million but ATL also has a 10-year operating contract which is probably worth about another US$11.25 million.
- The New South Wales Trotting Clubs system at Harold Park is due to go live in September and work is on schedule. Here equipment is worth US$2.8 million and there is an eight-year operating contract on which the company won't put a figure. However, industry sources say US$1.1 million a year for such contracts is not a too greatly exaggerated guess.
ATL also sells the terminals it manufactures in Sydney to suppliers of other systems. Such sales include 80 terminals for the Australian Capital Territory's Totalisator Administration Board and about 185 for the New Zealand TAB.
There are ATL wagering systems throughout the world. The company has a wholly-owned United States subsidiary which has about 30 percent of the US market, manufactures and designs its own terminals and makes a strong contribution to the parent company's profits.
| Flight | Destination | Comment |
| 1 |  | A bastion of the contemporary totalisator |
| 2 |  | Ellerslie Racecourse.The world's first automatic totalisator commenced operation here on Saturday 22nd of March 1913. Further Julius installations were performed in 1918 and 1922. I visited Auckland in 2007 and Prof. Bob Doran gave me a tour of totalisator history sites including Ellerslie. I took photographs of an old tote building that housed a Julius tote at Ellerslie. There were ornate windows which used to house the display counters from a Julius tote. The wall containing the counter windows, the highest peaked part in the photo, is now an inside wall as the building has been extended at some time. This building is different to photos of the original 1913 building. I found an old photograph of this building without the extension and compared it with one of the original 1913 tote building. Both photos have a similar orientation and both have a hill in the background with sufficient characteristics to deduce with reasonable certainty that they occupy the same location. Consequently the original building must have been replaced or udergone significant alterations. |
| 3 | Gloucester Park | The first automatic totalisator in Australia was installed here in 1916.
|
| 4 |
 | Randwick Racecourse. Julius tote installations were performed at Randwick in 1917 with 150 terminals and 1935 with 113 terminals. This Padock building was purpose built for the tote. The photo shows the kind of crowds the Julius tote had to contend with. It is still in use today by the tote, not for ticekt issuing machines however. |
| 5 | Doomben | A Julius tote operated here from the 1920s until the first on-course computer tote for Brisbane started in 1979 |
| 6 | New York Racing Association | The world's first computer totalizator was installed here by ATL. |
| 7 |
The patent for the World's first automatic totalisator | |
| 8 |
The Australian Science Archives Project's, Bright Sparcs | George Julius reference |
| 9 |
The Rutherford Journal | An Unlikely History of Australian Computing: The Reign of the Totalisator |
| 10 |
The Rutherford Journal | The First Automatic Totalisator - Note: It is ironic that George Julius appears in the Rutherford Journal as Ernest Rutherford and he were students together at the Canterbury College (University) both starting in 1890. See the George Julius Genealogy chapter for more on Canterbury College George and Ernest |
| 11 |
The Virtual Museum of Computing |
| 12 |
Charles Babbage Institute | Web Sites Related to the History of Information Processing |
| 13 |
Victorian Racing Museum |
| 14 |
Australian Computer Museum Society |
| 15 |
ECHO: Exploring and Collecting History Online | Science and Technology |
| 16 |
Mechanical Calculators |
| 17 |
Computer Conservation Society |
| 18 |
The Australian Racing and Breeding Homepage |
| 19 |
Yesterday's Office |
| 20 |
Pro Group Racing Thoroughbred horse racing tipping service |
| 21 |
Don McKenzie's Dontronics | Don worked on the tote in Victoria for 25 years. |
| 22 |
Harness Racing in Australia |
| 23 |
 | Some computer history including DEC machines |
| 24 |
 | Trentham Racecourse. In September 2007 I visited New Zealand on holidays. I took some photos of Trentham racecourse which is near Wellington. Julius tote installations were performed here in 1920 and 1936. It was a delight to see the old tote building in an excellent condition. So often historical equates with delapidated which is the opposite in this case as it is now in a better condition than in the historical photograph, taken in its heyday, in the Ex ATL meets Ex JP&G/photo gallery chapter. Prof. Bob Doran from Auckland University has documented the Julius totalisator still present in this building. |
| 25 |
 | Riccarton Racecourse. During the holiday mentioned above, I also visited Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. Julius tote installations were performed here in 1921 and 1935. Here too, it was a delight to see the old tote building in good condition. It is now occupied by a veterinary company. I spoke to one of the employees there and she was aware that the building used to be the main tote house and that it had historical significance. She indicated that the old Julius totalisator was still present upstairs. |
| 26 |
MOTAT Museum | Museum Of Transport and Technology which I visited in 2007. Stephanie McKenzie indicated that MOTAT did have totalisator equipment listed as being amongst their collection however it is awaiting further research. It is not known whether it is the original machine from Ellerslie. |
| 27 |
The Australian Punters' Association (APA) | APA was formed to give all punters a represetntative voice in decision making, and to assist punters generally. |
| 28 |
Paul Duffett's Greyhound Racing Archives | The Flame Photos archives are all-encompassing when it comes to greyhound racing. From old stadiums, personalities, champion greyhounds or the good old days when stadiums were full we have it all. Paul's site includes photographs of Harringay, A London dog track that had a Julius Tote. The Harringay tote is a well covered topic in multiple pages in this totalisator history website. Paul has an entry in the accolades section of this site accessible via a link below the index and the index is accessible via a link at the bottom of this page. |
Phil "MacGyver" Slocombe
With all the interesting technology of these systems and the park-like workplaces, it is the people who bring it to life. Following is an article that I wrote which appeared in a TABcorp company magazine called "On Track" in June 2006.
Phil worked for Automatic Totalisators in the 1980s performing component level maintenance on the J22 and J25 ticket issuing machines. The branch manager at the time said “if you ever want a bracket for something Phil’s your man”. I would go further and extend this to any type of gadget. Phil built a maintenance bay for his repair work, which looked like something that would be at home at NASA Control. I am glad that Phil returned to work for us, otherwise I would be feeling like the last of the Mohicans as we are the only two remnants of the ATL technologists who worked in Brisbane.
I recently suggested to Phil that he was like MacGyver. For those who have not seen this 1980s series on TV, it was about a former Special Forces agent dedicated to righting wrongs with ingenuity rather than brute force. I certainly felt that, although entertaining, it was implausible, as the movie magic would always provide him with nearby raw materials to provide a solution. Phil strikes me as the nearest I have seen to a real life MacGyver. Phil informed me that I was not the only one to call him that. He related an incident at a Gliding Club function when an expensive spit, which was to be used for roasting suffered a seized gearbox in the last minute. Phil redesigned it with parts from an old wire spooling device and saved the day. He has since been known there as MacGyver.
Recently I was looking around for some means of keeping two sector panel aerials standing vertical on a flat surface. (postscript :- our current tote has radio bridges to extend TIM LANs and access points for hand held terminals) I solicited Phil for some ideas. In true MacGyver fashion Phil darted around looking at available items. After a couple of minutes he uttered yep yep got it. He picked up the plastic ends of a cable roll, which had a central hub with plastic radial arms extending to a square plastic perimeter. In the blink of an eye and the whiz of an electric screwdriver the aerials were standing on their new bases which looked like they were supplied like that from the manufacturer.
As you can see from the photos Phil has not lost any of his MacGyver attributes. Inspired by the electrician at Eagle Farm who had been darting around the track on his electric scooter, Phil soon had his own model, donated by a friend, probably repayment for some of Phil’s innovative services. He soon had a trailer attachment for moving tote equipment around, adapted from a wheelbarrow. More recent improvements have been a headlight, augmentation batteries, a detachable umbrella and a front carry box. Any of you wishing to place orders will have to talk to Phil.
We have lost the photograph that appeared with this article. This photograph is Phil on one of his later models. This is one of his own creations.
Joseph Oller
No examination of totalisator history would be complete without a mention of Oller. In 1865, Joseph Oller invented
the “pari mutuel,” form of betting, which is the basis of the tote where investors bet against each other not
the operators. In 1868 he lodged the patent for the first totalisator. He had two major business interests,
horse racing and entertainment. He was a founder of the Moulin Rouge. He created a facility to print race
guides and betting tickets. Slates on the sides of horse drawn wagons in those days were used to record horse
names and odds offered. I think that popular opinion would identify him as French. On that note he might have said
about this point of these pages La Fin or perhaps C'est fini
Go back to the index
Acknowledgements
- Thanks to Stuart Smith who provided me with the Asian Computer Monthly magazine
- Thanks to Andy Evans for the animated red line.
- Thanks to Ian my 11 year old son (1997) who was a great help with the typing, the html and the images.
Comments and suggestions welcome to
totehis@hotmail.com 
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